Vender of the Week: Katherine Mansfield House & Garden

Can you tell us a little bit about how you got started and what you’re all about?

Katherine Mansfield is New Zealand’s most internationally famous writer. Although born in the Victorian age, she was a rebel who cast off convention and became an important figure in the Modernist movement. Our museum was opened in 1988, the centenary of Katherine Mansfield’s birth to celebrate her life and writing with exhibitions and events.

What’s your local community like?

Wellington is the culture capital of New Zealand. There’s always a great number of festivals, exhibitions, talks, performances, gigs, and the list goes on! It’s a great place for a museum like ours to thrive in and a community that Katherine Mansfield would be proud of.

What brought you to Vend and how have you found it? Would you recommend Vend to retailers like you?

As a charity we needed a POS that was cost effective and easy for our volunteers to navigate. So Vend was perfect for us. I would definitely recommend Vend to other organizations like ours.

What does your passion come from for what you do?

Katherine Mansfield was a remarkable woman who broke tradition to become a force of change in the world of literature. She was unconventional and lived a wild life. She packed in so much in such a short lifetime that she provides us with unending stories to tell.

Do you have any advice for retailers that you wish you’d known?

For museum retailers, don’t fill your gift shop with things you can already buy in any tourist outlet. Visitors want a reminder of their experience, so choose merchandise that reflects the stories you tell.

What’s your best retail tale?

We sell honey made by the bees in our garden as well as the seeds from our plants, so it’s always nice to see people delighted by this. And of course, Katherine Mansfield’s life stories are always popular.

Ashley looks after product marketing at Vend — working hard to bring exciting product launches to retailers around the globe. When she’s not busy talking all-things-Vend, Ashley also has a love of tea, candle-crafting, binge-watching, and hiking the pointy peaks of New Zealand.